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Home , Alfred Lunt, Lynn Fontanne, Lynn Redgrave

Currents t io n n da s Fou y

The Gift of Time and Trust en Chi mne ek ©T oz B r mes Ja Top actors hone their accomplishments in the haven of By Paul Kosidowski

aomi Jacobson is surrounded by a cluster The event is a showcase for the first Lunt-Fontanne of fellow actors as she performs a soliloquy from Shakespeare’s Fellowship, a new initiative by the 13-year-old Ten Chimneys Antony and . “The crown o’ the earth doth melt…,” she Foundation, created so that experienced actors from around laments with deep but stately sadness. As the monologue ends, the country can share their craft and explore their ideas Jacobson breaks character, takes a deep breath, and entertains without the typical constrictions of rehearsal and production a suggestion from a colleague: What if someone were trying schedules. As the program looks ahead to its second year, it’s N to keep Cleopatra away from Antony’s body? A silent actor clear the fellowship has meshed confidently with the spirit of joins the scene and it begins again. This time, the deep longing its namesakes, and , the pioneering turns frantic as Jacobson’s Cleopatra struggles physically to creators of the lavishly designed and meticulously restored get to the side of her beloved. The physical tension unleashes Ten Chimneys Estate in Genesee Depot, Wisc. breathtaking reserves of emotion, and when the scene ends, “I’ll never forget this experience,” enthuses Redgrave, Jacobson’s colleagues burst into heartfelt applause. taking a break from the Shakespeare workshops that formed So do 300 others seated in the audience at the Lunt- the backbone of the week. “These are all actors of great Fontanne Program Center in southeastern Wisconsin, accomplishment. It’s unheard of for such a group to all be observers of a moment that has gone far beyond the typical together.” The selection process began with a group of 10 acting-class exercise. The actors who have assembled here regional theatres from around the country. Each theatre during this July week—including Jacobson, a regular at Arena nominated three actors, and the foundation selected one. Next Stage in Washington, D.C., and her silent scene partner, Step- year, 10 different theatres will get the nod and a new cadre penwolf Theatre of Chicago’s Francis Guinan—are of actors will be selected in early spring 2010. It was recently among the most respected performers in America. On stage announced that Redgrave will return as master teacher. with them is British acting legend Lynn Redgrave, who has This year’s fellows echoed Redgrave’s enthusiasm, spent the past week gently encouraging exactly this kind particularly for the unique freedom of the work environment. of gutsy exploration of well-trod Shakespearean roles and Here was a week in which a group of actors could become speeches. selfishly devoted to themselves—stretch into roles and

From left, Suzanne Bouchard, Lee Ernst, Lynn Redgrave, Mary Beth Fisher, Kim Staunton, Jon Gentry and Naomi Jacobson, at Ten Chimneys.

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Currents

speeches they’ve always wanted to try, ask to play a scene again without fear of a director’s wrath, or simply step back from a competitive and stressful work schedule to reflect upon their careers and their art. Participant Lee Ernst, nominated by Repertory Theater, says the greatest gift of the week was the message it sent: In a culture that all too often treats the arts and artists as expendable or interchangeable, he says, the fellowship was a gesture that proclaimed loudly, “We t io n deserve this.” n da s Fou y You might say it was a program eight decades in the making. It was in 1924 that the Lunts made their landmark deci- en Chi mne ek ©T oz sion to sign with the , the

pioneering New York company that brought B r mes Ja a model of European art theatres to the From left, Kim Staunton and Dan Donohue watch Francis Guinan and Naomi Jacobson perform a U.S. In doing so, America’s two leading scene from at the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship concluding presentation. stage actors separated themselves from com- mercial Broadway (and from Hollywood as Guild’s season ran from September to May. and Lynn began to visit more often, staying well—their film appearances were rare), Years earlier, an inheritance from Lunt’s on the grounds in a converted chicken coop. and committed themselves to a life of seri- father had enabled him to purchase 60 acres Eventually they turned the property into a ous, sometimes experimental theatre—and of land in Genesee Depot, a small town 30 summer retreat, meticulously reworking the much lower wages. They also signed on to a miles west of Milwaukee, where he’d built a main house and adding a Swedish-style log lifetime of unemployed summers, since the house for his mother and sisters. Now Alfred cabin that would become a studio and gather-

60 AMERICANTHEATRE NOVEMBER09 ing place. By the mid-1930s, Ten Chimneys ambitious and nationally visible program. their faculties tuned through work alone— (yes, you can count them) became a sort of “The program developed organically,” the rehearsals and performances that con- off-season sanctuary for both the Lunts and notes Malone, pointing to the foundation’s stitute their professional life. But a retreat for luminaries of the theatre world: Alexander focus on mentorship from its beginnings. like this offers the chance to be free from Woollcott, , Noël Coward, That, after all, is the role the Lunts played the pressure of “going on with the show.” and were among in the life of such actors as Olivier and And for these experienced actors, it offers the regulars. . Like the informal sum- the luxury of working with peers of equal After the couple’s deaths (he in 1977, mer gatherings, readings and dinners that skill and accomplishment. “Here, there’s she in 1983), the estate fell into disrepair and had echoed through the estate in decades no way to hide behind a booming voice or almost fell victim to the developer’s wrecking past, the fellowship would provide time pull out your bag of tricks,” confesses Dan ball. But in 1996, a Madison entrepreneur and space for growth and rejuvenation for Donohue, a longtime company member of and arts advocate, Joe Garton, stepped in to what Malone calls “the best of the best” of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival of Ashland. stage a dramatic, Belasco-style rescue. In a American theatre practitioners. “I knew that all of these actors would see that few short years, the Ten Chimneys Founda- It is an idea, the actors in the program and know the difference—so I had to go to tion had raised $12.5 million to completely will tell you, whose time has come. While a place of honesty.” restore the property and open it (in 2003) to retreats and workshops for writers, composers The estate’s legacy as an energizing the public. More than a museum, the Lunt- and visual artists are mainstays of the arts retreat is not lost on the fellows. “It’s like Fontanne Program Center offers facilities to landscape, such opportunities for mid-career being in an environment where stepping host conferences and workshops. actors are rare. “We talked about models for back from the work is actually part of the At one such event—a 2006 gathering of the fellowship when we first got together,” work itself,” Donohue reasons. “It’s an inspir- Wisconsin-based actors—Laura Gordon, a says Jacobson during a break following her ing place that somehow reverberates with Ten Chimneys board member and longtime Cleopatra scene, “and there was nothing. the intention of the people who lived there member of Milwaukee Rep’s resident acting There really is nothing like it.” before. They used that place in the same way company, asked a simple question: “Where Surprising but true. While opportu- we do—to refuel, to be inspired, to become do the mentors go to be mentored?” For nities for actor training are ubiquitous in rejuvenated.” foundation president Sean Malone, that query America, there seems to be an assumption As a Wisconsin-based actor, Milwaukee became the seed of the organization’s most that mid-career actors keep their art alive and Rep’s Ernst has lived close to the Lunt legacy

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and sensed the connection even before he arrived. Prior to his 17 seasons at the Rep, Ernst worked with American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisc. The Lunts were profound influences on APT’s founders and its artistic director, Randall Duk Kim, who embraced the meticulous naturalism and attention to detail—overlapping dialogue and all—that the Lunts cultivated. Even more important to Ernst and his colleagues, the actor says, was the famous t io n couple’s “passion for theatre.” n da s Fou “They could be extremely selfless at y times,” Ernst points out, summarizing some of the reading he did before arriving at Ten Chimneys. “But they also would stand fast en Chi mne ek ©T oz and be adamant about their philosophies—

that’s what led to their ‘seclusion’ and their B r mes Ja commitment to the stage rather than film.” Scene work leads to a discussion between Jack Willis and Redgrave on weapons in Shakespeare. Lynn Redgrave was a perfect fit to lead the first fellowship workshop. While her Lady Redgrave, were living in dur- Today, Lynn Redgrave is able to point name and professional reputation might tend ing World War II, Fontanne called to invite to the exact chair in the corner of the Ten to be a little intimidating, her easy manner them to stay at Ten Chimneys as a refuge Chimneys library where Fontanne sat when with the actors created an environment from the Blitz. Lady Redgrave declined the she called Lady Redgrave with the wartime suited to honest work and collaboration. She offer, even though she was pregnant. But in offer. “I have a history here,” the actress says also has an interesting connection to Ten honor of Fontanne’s generosity, she named with a smile. Chimneys. When her parents, Michael and her daughter Lynn. Despite her years of experience, Red-

62 AMERICANTHEATRE NOVEMBER09 it’s a physical thing. The physicality of what you do—how you do it—does affect how you speak.”

It sounds simplE ANd MOdest, but watching Redgrave’s “quirk” in action is a remarkable experience. On a bright

Ro b i n K r Thursday morning during the July retreat, arrayed against a huge window overlooking au se / the wooded grounds, a group of fellows c ou rtes works on some of the monologues they have

y o f T en Chi mne selected. Jack Willis, a company member at San Francisco’s American Conservatory The- ater who professes little experience with y s Fou n da Shakespeare, erupts into a passage from

t io n Romeo and Juliet, right from the chair where he’s quietly observed the work so far. As The main house on the Ten Chimneys estate. Capulet, he warns Juliet about the risks of her budding outlaw romance, and directs grave’s approach to performance is more the lucky quirk of being able to somehow his lines without warning to fellow Suzanne intuitive than scholarly. “I’ve no formal aca- unlock a little door for actors. Bouchard (representing Seattle Repertory demic training in Shakespeare,” she admits “I don’t have a preconceived idea of how Theatre), who deftly picks up the cues and of her chosen material for the workshop, “but a role should be played,” she goes on to say. listens in character. I grew up hearing it. I grew up seeing great “I just want to see what they do, and as I’m “Your wrath is so appalling,” Redgrave actors do it, and I’ve done some myself. And watching, ideas come: What if you were to observes after Willis finishes. “We laugh out in my years of teaching, I found that I have do this? Or fight against this? Sometimes of nervousness.” The scene leads to a conver-

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sation about parent-child relationships. Ernst tells a story about his own daughter, and the conversation coalesces into a question that becomes the essence of the speech: “When do you let a child go?” Mary Beth Fisher, a Chicago-based actor representing the Goodman Theatre, is up next with Gertrude’s speech from describing Ophelia’s death. Questions pop back and forth between segments of the pas- t io n sage: “I’ve often thought,” Redgrave wonders,

“why didn’t Gertrude intervene? It’s odd that n da s Fou y she describes how Ophelia died in so much detail.” Others discuss the character’s interior battle between self-control and overwhelming grief. Finally, Redgrave describes her memory of calling friends to tell them about the recent

death of her niece, . “I rren O ’B r i en © T Chi mne Wa tried to talk about the accident in the most From left, Lunt and Fontanne at Ten Chimneys with frequent guest Noël Coward, circa 1933. ordinary terms,” she tells the actors. “And then emotion would break in—I couldn’t Reflecting on these sessions, the group their peers. But most of all, they speak of help it. When you’re talking about something of 10 inaugural fellows—which also includes the great luxuries of the fellowship: time really terrible, perhaps you try to tell it in an Jon Gentry (nominated by Arizona Theatre and trust. ordinary voice, but the emotion is going to Company), Donald Griffin (Atlanta’s Alliance “Sometimes I could sense people break out at some point.” She looks at Fisher Theatre) and Kim Staunton (Denver Center expanding right before my eyes,” says Jacob- with a quiet smile: “But I wouldn’t dream of Theatre Company)—speak of the acuity of son. “People went out on limbs and watched suggesting where that might be.” Redgrave’s comments and the excellence of others go out on limbs, and they weren’t shy about the confrontation. It was mesmerizing to watch.” “By day three, some of the most extraor- dinary work started happening,” confirms Donohue. “We all had a certain amount of fear in anticipation of what it would be like to step up in front of these people. Fear can be your friend, because it can launch you into something brave, but it can also get in the way. All the best kind of work comes from a place of fearlessness.” Indeed, moments of fearlessness erupted again and again in the intimacy of the Ten Chimneys rehearsal rooms. Jacobson’s Cleo- patra moment in front of that lucky audience of 300 was only one of many tightrope- walking moments over the course of the week. “I had no idea what it was going to be like,” Jacobson recalls of that particular scene, a few weeks after the fellowship. “I just let myself be raw and vulnerable and uncertain. And when they added the actor [to restrain Cleopatra], it was wonderful. He was holding me and it felt like he was not going to let me fall. That’s what the whole week felt like—these people are not going to let me fall.”

Paul Kosidowski is an arts writer and critic based in Milwaukee.

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